Voir aussi

Unitary patent takes shape

13 April 2011

Désolé. Actuellement, cette page n'existe pas en français.

European Commission presents its draft regulations on unitary patent protection

The EPO has welcomed the publication of two draft regulations on the unitary
patent by the European Commission today. This follows the decision taken last
month by 25 of the EU's 27 member states to proceed with the creation of a unitary
patent through enhanced cooperation.

"This is another important step towards the establishment of unitary
patent protection for Europe," said EPO
President Benoît Battistelli. "I am pleased to see that this proposal was
presented so soon after the EU Council authorised enhanced cooperation. I hope
that the commitment of the European Commission to move this important dossier forward
will find the full support of the EU Council and European Parliament, who will
discuss the proposals over the next few months," he said.

The draft regulation on the unitary patent proposes that a classic
(bundle) European patent granted by the EPO could be transformed ─ upon request
by the patent holder ─ into a unitary patent that is valid for all 25 EU member
states currently participating in the scheme. The unitary patent would exist alongside national and classic European
patents.

The second draft regulation ─ on
the translation arrangements for the unitary patent ─ proposes to use the EPO's tried and tested language
and translation regime, which is based on three official languages (English,
French and German). No additional manual translations would be required, as
high-quality machine translation would be available. Transitional measures are
proposed for the interim period until machine translation is fully operational.

It is proposed that the EPO will take on a number of additional tasks
under the proposed scheme, such as the administration of requests for the new
patent, renewal fees and the register for the unitary patent.

"The EPO is well prepared to carry out these additional tasks on
behalf of the EU and the current group of 25 participating member states, and I
am confident that we will be ready to take on this work once the two regulations
enter into force," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. "For the Office
and for the European Patent Organisation it is important that there is full coverage of the costs of carrying out additional tasks and that the
financial sustainability of the European Patent Organisation is maintained under
the unitary patent scheme,"
President Battistelli said.